A 36-year-old man known to be Tommy Butta Hill was critically wounded early Friday when he was shot during a robbery that sparked a gun battle between two bar employees and a trio of masked bandits in Northwest Philadelphia, police said. The drama unfolded about 1:30 a.m. after a customer left Reuben’s Marc bar at 8201 Stenton Ave. in the Stenton section without paying his bill, police said.

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Police said the manager told them he followed the patron and was collecting his tab in the parking lot of a water-ice stand across the street when three masked men in dark clothing approached the victim and announced a robbery. The manager stepped back and watched as two of the robbers rifled the man’s pockets, then shot him in the chest and lower body, police said.

The manager then pulled his own gun and, joined by the bar’s security guard, traded gunfire with the bandits, police said. The robbers fled in three different directions, police said. The bar employees were not hurt. The wounded man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was reported in critical condition. Police said the investigation was continuing.